Funders › Missouri

Gordon Charitable Trust

Columbia, MO · EIN 43-6292879. Reported 40 grants totalling $59,612 to 21 recipients across tax years 2020-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$1,000median grant
$59,612granted, 2020-2024
21recipients, as named on its returns
56%of grantees funded again the next year
$460,255assets, latest filing

Does this foundation accept applications?

Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. Gordon Charitable Trust did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement, and it says nothing about whether they have a form, a deadline, or an appetite for new grantees. Treat it as the reason this foundation is worth your research time, not as an invitation. Many small foundations of this kind have no website and no application process -- a letter of inquiry is the normal first step.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $1,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $589 and $1,768; the smallest was $500 and the largest $10,466. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
17 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
22 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
1 grant

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by name and state as they were written on the returns, so an organization entered under two different names appears twice. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which that name received money.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Central Missouri Humane Society Attn Julie AberColumbia, MO$12,666332024
Curators of the University of MissouriColumbia, MO$10,839332024
Calvary Episcopal ChurchColumbia, MO$7,100332023
Columbia Police FoundationColumbia, MO$7,000332023
Cedar Creek Therapeutic Riding CenterColumbia, MO$3,400332023
Cystic Fibrosis FoundationBethesda, MD$2,500332024
The Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri IncColumbia, MO$2,200332023
Christian Fellowship SchoolColumbia, MO$1,768112021
Meals on Wheels of Columbia IncColumbia, MO$1,600332023
Unchained Melodies IncColumbia, MO$1,600332023
Polk County Humane SocietyBolivar, MO$1,500222024
Boone County Animal CareColumbia, MO$1,000112021
Boone County Historical SocietyColumbia, MO$1,000112022
Columbia Crime Stoppers Programs Inc C/O Karen TaylorColumbia, MO$1,000112023
People Helping Paws Dog RescueJefferson City, MO$1,000112024
Central Missouri Honor FlightColumbia, MO$750112020
Ronald Mcdonald House CharitiesColumbia, MO$600112022
Oats IncColumbia, MO$589112022
Barnies Place Feline RescueColumbia, MO$500112021
Columbia Second Chance IncColumbia, MO$500112022
Mo Wiggle ButtsColumbia, MO$500112021

10 of 21 (48%) received money in more than one year over the 5 years we hold.

Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 56%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 17 grants where we could match the recipient to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's. The match, made from the name and address on the return, is ours.

Animal Welfare
7 grants
Diseases & Disorders
3 grants
Food & Nutrition
3 grants
Human Services
2 grants
Arts & Culture
1 grant
Public & Societal Benefit
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
20202$2,750$1,375
20219$7,468$500
202213$16,589$1,000
202311$16,339$1,200
20245$16,466$1,000

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.

Where its money goes

96% of its giving went to organizations in Missouri. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.

Missouri
$57K
Maryland
$2K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.

Veterans United Foundation7 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc4 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund4 shared recipientsPaypal Charitable Giving Fund4 shared recipientsFred V & Dorothy H Heinkel3 shared recipientsAllen P and Josephine B Green3 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $1,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Missouri.
  3. Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
  4. Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Gordon Charitable Trust's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). Grant figures are from its returns. Matching recipients to registered organizations, their IRS classifications, the retention rate and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations, described in how we build this.

Address of record on the latest return: 720 E Broadway 4TH Floor, Columbia, MO, 65205. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.

EIN 43-6292879 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Foundation returns are published about a year after the tax year ends. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this foundation has actually funded.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.